Saturday, October 11, 2014

It was in college where I started to read poems, short stories and novels written by Filipinos.
In short I was introducing myself to Filipino literary giants like NVM
Gonzales, Leopoldo Yabes, Edith Tiempo and her husband Edilberto Tiempo.
Later, I read the works of Cirilo Bautista, Teo Baylen, Jaime
Ann Lim, Raul Ingles, Leoncio Deriada, Hermie Beltran, Merlie Alunan,
and others which at the moment I cannot recall.
As time went by,
their names, not necessary their works, stuck to my mind. And obviously,
I admire them. At times, I wanted to see them personally and shake
hands with them. There were times too that I wished my name would also
be included in the card catalog of the University of the Philippines
Main Library along with these great Filipino writers.
But that dream remained for more than two decades.
But I wrote my piece of literature: poems, and short stories, never
mind whether they are poetry or not. Some were published but many were
rejected, especially in the Philippines Free Press. Some of my works
were published in the Philippine Collegian, The Quezonian, Weekly
Graphic, Philippines Free Press, and even in a book of poems along with
two other translators of Teo Baylen's poems in Kalabaw at Buffalo.
Then I decided to transfer from UP Diliman Library to UP in the Visayas
(UPV) Library in Iloilo City. UPV then was called UP in Iloilo City
(UPIC).
It was also my turning point in my literary career.
I met Dr. Leoncio Deriada, the Father of Contemporary Written
Literature in Western Visayas. I was then the OIC of the UPV Library
when he came to me asking if his wife could work in the library, while
he would be teaching literature in UPV. Upon learning this, I told him
that I am also writing poetry. Really he said. He asked if I could show
him some of my "best works".
The next day, I brought my notebook filled up with "poems".
After scanning my masterpieces, he told me if I wanted to have a one-on-one workshop with him. With some hesitations, I agreed.
The first word that he told me on poetry writing is to create tension
in the poem, wherein there are at least two opposing ideas in the poem. And the second one is to use words that create pictures like red rose instead of just saying flower.
These two words remain in my mind until today.
The next few days after that workshop were busy days for me.
I wrote poems, revised them again and again until I was sure that they would be acceptable to Dr. Deriada.
I showed some of my works to him. One or two were Ok, but the rest needed more revisions. Or be thrown to the waste basket.
Then one day, he told me to submit a poem for Home Life magazine where he edited the poetry section.
I did.
The title of the poem I submitted is A Letter.
Here is the poem:

A Letter
John,
I will definitely go home
To our house
Where we can see the clouds
Through the roof.
I'm fed up
With the twinkling neon lights,
But I have not yet paid
For the earrings that I got
From Mama San.
I need them so my tinkling
Will be louder and my hips
Will be heavier.
Don't worry, John,
This Christmas
You and I will create a moon
And through the roof
We two alone
Will grasp its light.

Ana

And that poem was the first major poem that I wrote that won a prize, first prize in a national poetry contest.
With that award, I was able to attend national poetry workshops, national writers conferences/assemblies.
And it was during these meetings where I elbowed with Filipino literary giants.
I shook hands with them. I shared dining tables with them and discussed with them the various aspects of Filipino literature.
Now my name appears in the virtual catalog of the UP Library System.
And in the U.S. Library of Congress.

How did I become a librarian and a Blogger? Melcichon Oct. 9, 2014
One afternoon, I went to the Benzon’s Hall in UP Diliman. And I read a
notice on its bulletin board that the UP Main Library was looking for a
Library Assistant. I applied, although I knew that I had no library
science background All I had was my frequent visits to the library to
read books either for my assignments or for my passion on reading. I was
then enrolled for my degree in fisheries. Fortunately, I was accepted.
By then I was a working student at the Narra Residence Hall as a helper
in their dining room. During mealtime, I would scoop rice to the buying
students. That’s all that I did, aside from mopping the dining room
after supper period. My duty was from 5-7 p.m.
I informed the
Secretary of Miss Marina Dayrit, then the University of the Philippines
University Librarian, of my situation. I was told to resign at the
canteen, but I begged not to leave the canteen until after I received my
first salary as a library assistant. I did not like to resign as a
working student because at the canteen I had free breakfast, morning and
afternoon merienda or snack, lunch, and supper, from Monday to Sunday. I
worked for only two hours a day, from Monday to Friday. So immediately
after I got my first pay, I resigned as a working student in the
canteen. And you know how much I earned per month? P120.00! But then at
that time the price of one bottle of Cook was only P0.10, repeat ten
centavos and the jeepney fare was also ten centavos.
But later
on, I realized that I could not be promoted to a higher position if I do
not get a degree in Library Science, although I already had my
fisheries diploma. So I enrolled for my second degree, BSE major in
Library science and minor in English at Manuel Luis Quezon, Manila.
And since I was a U.P employee I had free tuition fees. So after taking
up the BSE degree, I enrolled for a Master in Management degree at the
University of the Philippine in the Visayas, now UP Visayas, Iloilo
City. By then, my family and I had moved to Iloilo City because it is
near Aklan, my home province.
While I was taking up my master’s
degree in management, I was recommended to take up a diploma course,
Post Graduate Training Course for Information Science Specialists in
Southeast Asia, in UP Institute of Library Science, Diliman, Quezon City
which could be credited to the Master in Library Science degree, also
at UP.
I enrolled for that one year diploma course. It was
sponsored by the United Nation Development Plan in collaboration with
National Economic Development Authority, National Science Technology
Agency and UP. It was a memorable moment not only because I was on
study leave with full salary, plus allowance from the UNDP, My
classmates were from China, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Korea, Malaysia, Fiji,
Singapore, and the Philippines.
Later I was given a chance to study at the Universiti Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia for one month.
After graduation from my MLS degree, I went back to UPV, Iloilo City and continued my Master in Management degree.
Since I took management subjects as cognates for my MLS degree, I used
the 12 management units for my Master in Management degree in UP
Visayas, Iloilo City. That was possible because all the management
subjects that I took were all taken in UP System. That means, I earned
12 units for two masters degrees.
In between these studies, I
wrote a lot of poems, essays, and short stories. I also entered in
different literary contests, and won a lot of medals and awards
including a national award from Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas
(UMPIL) and a first prize for my poem, A Letter, in the HomeLife poetry
contest. Later, my colleagues called me as the Father of Aklanon
Literature because I wrote a lot of my winning pieces in Aklanon, and
have compiled a lot of poems, short stories, essays written by Aklanons.
I also conducted poetry writing workshops both online and off-line.
Later I published some of my works in books and in journals. I also
published three anthologies of Aklanon poems written by Aklanons, the
first time for Aklanon literature.
But book publication is costly.
Thanks for the advancing technology.
Now, with the advent of the internet and in the popularization of the
blogs, I tried my hands on it. This is where I started publishing my
literary works in the internet. With the help of a friend, I created a
blog in blogspot.com.
What is a blog? A blog is a “perfect medium
to express and share your views, opinions, and interests, primarily to
educate the readers. Hence, it is necessary that we build the interests
of the readers to attract them to your blog.” So what I do is to update
my blog as often as possible—at least once a day.
Some earn
money through the blog. They coordinate with the Google wherein they
post advertisements in the blog, and for every click of each of the
advertisements in the blog is an income for the owner of the blog and
that of Google. Much better if you buy a domain wherein you can get as
many advertisements as you can.
On my part, I do not earn directly from my blogs. What I earn is my happiness from knowing that a lot of people read my works.
One of my blogs is Dawn to Dawn (http://anahawleaf.blogspot.com/),
my literary blog. As of this writing, there are 39,754 views and
growing. But my most popular blog is my Aklanon Rhyming Dictionary
which, as of October 9, 2014, has 438,996 views (http://aklanonrhymingdictio.blogspot.com/)
My other famous blog is the Aklanon Literature where I post the
literary works of Aklanon writers. It was through this blog that my
popularity as a writer has spread throughout the Philippines.
If
someone searches Aklanon literature in yahoo or in google, my name
appears first. My other famous blog is Bueabod, which is a literary
blog for Aklanon literature after the closure of geocities platform. A
platform is a venue wherein one can create his/her blog. Some blogs are
free but others are sold.
Aside from happiness that I get from
writing and from the number of readers who read my works, I also get
invitations to attend to literary activities and other gathering like
being asked to serve as a resource person in creative writing workshop.
I also serve as a judge in literary competitions.
My works are
being studied by students in literature from different colleges and
universities like Aklan Catholic College, De la Salle University,
University of Sto. Tomas, University of the Philippines Visayas, and
many more.
But not all are good for being a blogger.
Some people might be irritated on what you write about. So be careful.
This brings us to the Code of Ethics for Bloggers. I got this from the internet.

Be honest and fair.
Never plagiarize
Never distort the content of the photos
Never publish an inaccurate information
Maximize harm
Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by blog content
Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves, unlike the public officials
Show good taste
Be cautious about identifying juvenile suspects, victoms of sex crimes
and criminal suspects before the formal charges are filled.
Be accountable
Bloggers should admit mistakes and correct them promptly
Be wary of sources offering information for favors. When accepting such information, disclose the favors.